Born in the city of Tula, Russia, Yulia Snigir was an exceptionally gifted and accomplished chess player, competitively playing the game at a young age. At the tender age of 15, she was awarded the prestigious title of Candidate Master of Sports in Chess, a testament to her remarkable talent and dedication. Initially, she had aspirations of pursuing a professional chess player career, but she ultimately decided to continue her education and relocated to Moscow, where she was accepted to the esteemed State Pedagogical University.
Despite the challenges of balancing her academic responsibilities with financial struggles, Yulia persevered and worked tirelessly to support herself. She took on the role of an English teacher at a nursery school, where she was discovered by a representative from a prominent Moscow modeling agency. Her friend had shown the agency a collection of her photographs, which caught the attention of the representative, leading to her introduction to the world of modeling.
As she continued her studies at the university, Yulia's modeling career began to flourish. She was offered a contract with a renowned French jewelry brand and was poised to relocate to France. However, a casting director from the agency spotted her and invited her to audition for a role in a film. This marked the beginning of her acting career, which officially commenced when she was accepted into the prestigious Vakhtangov Theatre Academy and cast in two independent films.
Yulia's breakthrough role came when she was offered one of the leading parts in the Russian sci-fi blockbuster "The Inhabited Island" and its sequel "The Inhabited Island 2: Rebellion", catapulting her to stardom in Russia. She became the face of L'Oreal, Mexx clothing, and Mexx perfume in her home country.
Yulia's remarkable versatility as an actress has led her to divide her time between television series, theater, and film, taking on a diverse range of roles. Her projects have spanned from small indie films to TV dramas, large studio projects, and experimental theater. In the theater, she played a male role in a highly successful production of King Lear, which won several European and Russian theater awards.
In 2012, Yulia was cast in a lead role in the fifth installment of the Die Hard franchise, released in February 2013.
